A newspaper article that appeared in the September 7, 1994 West Boca Times is reprinted below.

TRUCK BATTLE

Trucks parked on street?

10 W. Boca cases in court

By Judy Vik

"Keep on trucking."

That's the message from Palm Beach County Circuit Court to West Boca.

Last week, the court dismissed the first of several lawsuits filed against homeowners in Palmetto Pines with pickup trucks.  The lawsuit claimed the truck broke Palmetto Pines rules when it was parked outside for more than four hours.

The Story

The case involved Edna Wrabel and her son Robert and his 1992 Ford XLT pickup truck, which he uses to pull his boat.

Palmetto Pines residents may have trucks, but the vehicles can't be parked outside for more than four hours, according to deed restrictions.  Trucks, boats and campers must be stored in the garage after four hours.

The Wrabels say they had the permission of one board of directors to park the truck.  Then they say a new board changed the rules and took them to court.

"They're the victims.  They're caught in the middle of a battle between boards," said Lou Alfonso, attorney for the Wrabels.  He is representing 10 other Palmetto Park residents who have been summoned to Court for parking their trucks on the street for more than four hours.

He says he has been trying to consolidate a counter claim against the Pines' homeowners' association on the other cases to keep the legal costs and expenses low for homeowners.

No one's talking

Elaine Gatsos, attorney for the homeowners' association, could not be reached despite several calls to her office.

The president of the board of directors has an unlisted number and could not be reached.  Board member Jack Knight referred calls to the attorneys or the management firm, Lang Management Co.  Representatives at Lang who handle Palmetto Pines are on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

Alfonso had hoped to use the Wrabels' case as a precedent.  But in a bizarre twist, the homeowners' association presented its case, then Gatsos asked that the case be dismissed.

"He is no longer a defendant," Alfonso said of Wrabel.  "I don't know whether they will sue him again.  They have a right to do that."  But that would be unfortunate, said Alfonso.  "This controversy is a tempest in a teapot."

What's a truck?

Wrabel traces the problem to February 1992 when he says the board redefined trucks, saying pickups are not always trucks.  A pickup becomes a truck when used commercially;  in a lawn care business, for example.

"I had a truck out here for a year and never heard a word," said Wrabel.

Alfonso said he can appreciate a board's concern with having uniformity of deed restrictions.  But he thinks boards should have better things to do than to go after the parking of pickup trucks.

Ralph Cerbone is one of the Palmetto Pines residents being sued for a truck he keeps in his garage.  He said he was supposed to go for a deposition last week, but it was cancelled.

Cerbone said he uses his truck to make a living, selling hot dogs from a cart on top of the truck.

He says he didn't get the okay from anyone to keep the truck.  "They have no right to hassle me if my truck is in the garage overnight," he said.  He said the rules say the truck must be parked in the garage with the door shut.

Cerbone said his son has a Toyota pickup truck, "a nice, little truck," which is parked outside.  But he says he wasn't cited for that truck.

"I live in Florida.  If you can't have a boat and you can't have a truck, what's the sense of living in Florida then," said Cerbone.  "Pickups are not like they were years ago.  They're nice looking vehicles."

Last modified: June 13, 2001

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